Encounter 3: Team Konoha vs. ???
These massive trees have trunks over twenty feet in diameter. These extravagant trunks serve as their own gravestones- they have all died due to a lack of moisture and sunlight, as their own canopies have blocked the sun and sky. The ground beneath is barren and dead, and the hollow trunks are filled with termites, beetles, and other decay-dwelling vermin. Pre-Combat Actions and Roleplaying It's been two hours since your initial encounter against Team Sunayoshi. You handily dispatched them with traps and guile, and easily acquired the enemy team's scroll. Unforunately, the scroll you received was a second scroll of heaven. After depositing the disabled rivals at one of the numerous drop/pickup stations located around the forest, you turn back to the task at hand: locating an enemy team and taking their scroll of earth. Shima Date groaned as she squatted, with the balls of her feet placed firmly on a branch. Except well, she was upside down, knowing that her weight would collapse the sickly branch. Ahead of her team by only a few meters, acting as a short range scout, even though her allies were capable of doing such. Shima let out a loud sigh as she waited for the Precious Princess of Konoha, fucking Akemi. Not to mention the Ice-Girl Koyone who only sought to interrupt her when she was trying to make a statement to that Hyuga-bitch! Her teeth clenched tight beneath the wrappings around her mouth, hands clenching tight against themselves. Knotting her hand into a balled fist, the nails of her fingers pressing against the neigh visible plated scales across her body. Appearing as little else then darkened flesh to others around her, unless inspected meticulously. The air was dry, and the heat caressed her body with pleasuring sensations. Her Hiroigui benefited her in this atmosphere, fueling her natural energy from the sun. Bathing in it's light, she could feel her body's processes at peak condition, her chakra circulated perfectly. Her pupils dilating for but a moment, as a sign that her primal spirit was at work. Scanning for thermal signatures. With another deep inhalation, she was filled with the scent of the wilderness. Nothing... as of yet. And that's when her brief respite from Akemi shut short. The Hyuga girl and Koyone were walking behind her by only a few meters, and now they had caught up. Looking down to them as each neared, Shima snided in distaste: "Oi, Kage-brat, those seals you placed on us really helped..." staring at her through half lidded, sarcastic eyes. Briefly glancing up at her reptilian ally Koyone can't help not to sigh as she passes under Shima and continues casually along the path. "I think I may have figured out why the Aburame dropped out of the exams," she thinks to herself, commenting on the consent bickering. For a moment she considers voicing her opinion on the subject aloud, but decides to resist the urge to do so. "The last thing I need to do is tamper with a working system," Koyone ensures herself, "Regardless of their attitudes the two of them are quite capable kunoichi, and our exploits thus far have been far from disastrous. Paired alongside them we have a decent chance of passing this portion of the exam." Turning her attention back to the present, rather than potential strategies for the finals, Koyone scans the surrounding area for any out of place chakra signatures. While she only quickly surveyed the area, relying partially on her teammates to have their focus on nearby threats as well, Koyone doesn't identify anything to be concerned about. Without any danger readily looming on the horizon Koyone feels almost obligated to spark a conversation with her team. The noise from the forest's incessant insects only being broken by an occasional jab by one of her partners was becoming more than she could bare. "So..." Koyone begins aloud, immediately becoming aware that she hadn't planned out what she was going to say in the least. For a time a shameful pause falls around the white-haired kunoichi who quickly racks her mind for any topic at all to lead into a conversation. Another moment passes and the kunoichi desperately tries to at least string some words together, but nothing original comes to mind. Unfortunately, he tongue latches onto the first coherent thought that pops into her mind, a choice she'd likely regret. "I wonder if your last teammate failed the test on purpose, just so he wouldn't have to put up with the two of you for five days straight..." she remarks, her voice trailing off near the end. "What the hell is wrong with me?" Koyone questions herself, brushing her hair out of her eyes. "I should have just stayed quiet as usual." Dreading the response from her peers, she keeps her gaze on the path before her. A seething retort sputtered before it even left Akemi's lips. Turning to regard the latest addition to their merryband of misfits, she regards Koyone with a look of utter disbelief. As if she couldn't fathom that the kuniochi would dare talk to her in such a manner. As far as she had been concerned Koyone was the silent follower, content to stay in the background. Now.. now she wasn't so sure. The casual way she interrupted her, the soft-spoken and sickeningly polite manner of her speech. Akemi was torn between molten self-righteous fury and dizzying confusion. Grinding her teeth in a very unlady-like fashion she marches over to Koyone, each foot stomping the ground every step of the way before settling with invading her personal space by shoving her face inches before the other. "You!" She emphasized in a tone clearly betraying her anger. "-have got a lot of nerve. I didn't see you come up with a plan of attack to get the scroll. And last I check your two teammates failed, a redesigned academy test!" She finishes haughtily. Stepping back she places a hand on her hip, head titled to the side in a mocking manner. "So much for Team Uchiha if they're letting rabble like that graduate." Still looking at Koyone she couldn't help but inwardly cringe at her own tone. Was she annoyed? Yes, but Koyone was probably just trying to mingle. Given that she and Shima argued over every little thing she likely thought that this was how she could get in. Still, doesn't mean I have to be easy on her. "But you're right about Yura, cheeky brat could barely handle five minutes with us much less five days. Didn't think he would forfeit the exams though. They don't make an Aburame like they used to...." she trails off wistfully. As an after thought she whips her head to the side to glare at Shima. "As for you, I'd suggest you watch that tone. My seals could very well save that miserable life of yours, so consider it an honor that you received even one!" She ponders for a moment before adding, "And call me kage-brat again and I'll take that lizard tail you've got hiding up your skirt and see how far it goes up your ass!" Shima glowered for a moment, dropping behind Koyone and Akemi with a low Thud. Her hands balled into tightly clenched fists. Her own teeth, jagged and sharp, now marching across the others in a grinding motion, though hers lay hidden behind the cloth. Anger energized her muscles, and she had little time to think for herself before her actions did the talking. Did she really care about Yura? Not really, but it was the same for all the fucking Noble Clans in this village. Did she really care that Koyone was on the team? Definitely so, because now... she had done pissed her off. All she knew was that her partner needed knocked down a peg. They weren't rugs to be walked on! Akemi couldn't just shut up, could she? She walked around like she owned the place, as if they should kiss the ground she walked on. Shima wouldn't put it past the Hyuga heiress to expect she and Koyone to start fanning her soon. What right did she have, to go around as she did, pushing her words down their throats? Infuriation tipped Shima to the edge, she was hoping to hold off her own temper. But these two! Stepping forward, the girl had enough control to know what she was doing, and was too ready to do so. Akemi didn't have fucking Haruno-sensei to protect her this time! Koyone would have been the first to knock sense into, but with Akemi's last words, she had just declared war! Princess, then the Ice-bitch...''For once, Shima didn't mind releasing her ''Killing Intent into the air. And as she approached, a slight wave of her own negative energy emitted into her surroundings. With a fluid motion, Shima brought her hand to the back of Akemi's cuffed collar, yanking roughly so that she would rotate and be facing her. "Oi, smartalic, you just volunteered to see if those seals of yours actually work! I'm starting to get real tired of your loose lips, Queenie..." the swiftness of her movements combined with the following made events escalate rather quickly. Her knuckles creasing into Akemi's collar, lifting her off the ground, applying ample amounts of strength. Her pupils dilating once more, as she inspected the empty orbs of the Hyuga. Tense and agitated, things would only get worse from here. Combat It's at this point, as the three kunoichi are locked in gazes of hatred, that they notice a pall silence has overtaken the forest. Surrounding them on all sides are corpses, whose bodies were partly concealed in the soil. In the heat of their argument, they entirely failed to notice they had walked into the site of a battlefield... an ancient one, at that. The corpses had long since decayed to nothing but bare skeletons, whose fragmenting bones turned sickly green color from rot. The dead warriors were clearly armed and armored at the time of their deaths: but it is impossible to discern their allegiances; any banners have already been destroyed by time, and their armors and weapons are rusted and pitted beyond recognition. Queerly, the positions of their bodies indicate that, rather than fighting a battle against an enemy force, they had killed each other. Going by the color of the armors, it looks like even brothers-in-arms had plunged their swords into each others' bodies repeatedly. It's a sobering sight, this snapshot of insanity. About a hundred feet into this battle site are fresher kills. The ground is littered with dead genin. It looks like over five teams have been torn to pieces. Their bodies are littered with deep cuts and ruptured flesh. The limbs of several are bent and twisted at unnatural angles, as though their limbs were simply snapped in the force of an attack. Although some have their weapons drawn, none bear signs of having drawn blood- as though they weren't even capable of fighting back against the threat that killed them. Seen scattered among the mangled bodies of the children are five scrolls... more than enough to pass phase 2. Shima was fast, faster than she ever shown before but Akemi had seen faster, and so was felt no need to defend herself. It seemed her scathing remark had done its job, perhaps a little too well. Still, staring down at the seething Shima, face contorted in anger, the subtle tensing of her muscles, all indicative of so much more than what she was showing. She couldn't help but smirk, sending a condescending glare down at the offended kunoichi. "You know I could just shut off that annoying bloodline if it would make you feel better." To emphasize the point she has an open palm resting an inch above her liver. "But first," Akemi makes a sweeping gesture with her hand to point behind her. "Maybe you should take a look around before you get us killed." She says cooly. "Takamori." Her tone was like ice. "Start searching for chakra signatures, and setup a perimeter. Shima. Put. Me. Down. We've got five dead genin teams, and I have no desire to join them due to your foolishness. We'll settle this later. Got that?" It was not a suggestion it was a command. Shima felt her heart skip a beat as the brat ordered her around. Taking note of the surroundings however, changed her entire viewpoint. Corpses were everywhere, and the features they displayed threw her off guard. Shima knew the signs of combat, the bloody spray on bone and flesh, the patterns in which they all lay. This scene was - harrowing. Eyes undulating, she dropped Akemi without further notice. For now, pressing matters bothered her. I'll settle this when your back is turned... cruel words echoed in her mind towards Akemi. The Princess presumed too much, and it agitated her. But now, with a threat looming, of that she was sure; Shima could better direct her focus and time. Exhaling, and inhaling, The Date girl calmed her mind, freeing herself of the primal aggression. Slowly but surely, she felt rested. No more words were needed. Shima surged her chakra network with spiritual energy, vibrating brightly in the container of her physical vassal. This energy manifested itself externally, her scales began to rise, from her head to her toes they crested in reaction to her will. Loosening them for the battle, they soon returned to their plated and indistinguishable state. Claws elongating, she waited for the Sensory Analysis from her allies. Stepping forward in front of them both, to assume the position of a linemen. Shima was ready for some signs of combat, something to let loose her emotions through. She would need it more then ever, being stuck in the forest with the bitches she was now going to be partners with for the next five days. Whirling around Koyone is startled by the location they had somehow wandered into. Clenching her teeth, in order to maintain her composure by the sudden appearance of countless corpses, Koyone takes a deep breath before attempting to focus on the task at hand. "No need to bark, Hyūga," she retorts reflexively, without shifting her gaze on the scene before her, before moving forward along the path a few steps. While part of her really would prefer to retaliate against her "teammates," it was nearly the time or the place. In detail Koyone surveyed the area, the corpses, and even the chakra of herself and allies. "Hmph...not a genjutsu," she whispers, after confirming their chakra flow wasn't being influenced by foreign disruption. "Furthermore, with the exception of the chakra residue on the genin...the only thing of notable chakra density in the vicinity is us." Despite what her senses were telling her, the white-haired kunoichi was far from the supposed lack of entities in their surroundings. In fact, it was incredibly unnatural, considering that the bodies of newly slain should have drawn the attention of scavengers at the very least. "Something's is really wrong with this place," she begins to reiterate aloud, "We all know the forest is filled with some rather substantially sized creatures. Why aren't they coming for these bodies?" Drawing a slow breath, Koyone wracks her mind trying to come up with a theory on the situation at hand. Addressing her squad in a serious, yet far from overbearing or dictating manner, the kunoichi explains her conclusion on the situation. "Unless the Hyū-. I mean...unless Akemi's eyes can discern otherwise, whatever killed the other teams is either gone..." she explains, before pausing for a moment. Positioning her back to her group, and equipping a kunai, Koyone finishes her statement. "...or whatever did this can suppress their chakra signature. If that's the case, we better hope it's not another shinobi." Giving Shima a wary eye as she saunters ahead of them, Akemi activates her Byakugan. "Its obvious this is a trap. The animals in the forest don't leave corpses half-finished, and they certainly wouldn't prop them up like that with five scrolls presented. No, this is bait." Fixating on the scene around her, Akemi starts investigating letting her All-Around Vision take in the immediate details. Its the corpses themselves that show a telling tale. The bodies are... moving. Years of training, and maintaining an air of indifference barely keep Akemi from spewing her breakfast and losing her composure. Larva of some hive are present, devouring the corpses from the inside, feeding and growing. It was horrifically disgusting to see hundreds of larva embedded in their flesh with puss and other entrails oozing out. She visibly shudders at the sight her face showing her own revulsion of the sight. "No, it's here, this is a trap, we have to move now!" Akemi screams to her teammates. Feet back peddling as she desperately tries to create distance. Her hands flash grabbing explosive tags. Movement to her side deep within the hollowed trunks of tree's alert her to the hundreds of wasps, each half the length of her forearm, mandibles like small daggers and stinger dripping with poison, ready to burst upon their next meal--- them. But its the largest concentration that frightens her, a hive living inside of a human being, a large bulbous protrusion on his back as insects wiggle and writhe through the tiny holes. And he was already moving. As the white princess of Konoha begins to flee in abject horror, a pair of powerful hands comes out of the ground at her feet suddenly, grabbing her by her ankles and pulling. In in instant, Akemi is buried up to her waist in the rocky soil. The hands, however, don't let go, but instead begin to strengthen their grip. With bone-crushing strength, they start to break the joints in her ankles. At the same time, hundreds of foot-length wasps begin pouring out of the hollows of the surrounding trees. The swarms begin circling the perimeter of the ancient battlefield, forming a deadly wall of gnashing mandibles and poison-filled stingers. A tumultuous droning fills the air, making it difficult to hear. The corpses of the fallen genin start twitching and lurching as the sound of the buzzing overcomes the area. Slowly, they rise. Their battered and ruined bodies are awash in blood. From within gaping mouths and eyesockets, you can see the wriggling forms of innumerable wasp larva, each with a formidable set of fangs and hook-tipped legs. With a lurching gallop, the corpses charge Team Konoha. Shima was the next to make her play, watching on in abject horror as the bugs and corpses propped themselves into life. Eyes scanning over the size and unholy visage of the swarm that was now headed directly towards them. She had to ensure that her comrades were safe. All negative emotions from before had been forgotten, now there was only the fight to come. Looking back towards Akemi at the sound of her scream of pain, Shit..., "Hold your breath!" Saving her, that's what mattered to Akemi, but, she had to do so from the frontlines. Shima's two legs planted into a firm horse stance, propping her hands into the seal of the Snake, the chakra in her body flowing rapidly in conjunction. This right here, was why Shima was known as the Gila-girl of Konoha. Opening her mouth wide, her physical proportions began changing. Scales shifted across her body, and the muscles in her neck and throat began to protrude, snapping the bindings that were wrapped across her face, white tatters of cloth falling to the earth. Kneading the chakra in her mouth, Shima let loose of her hand seal, arching her body so she could direct the course of the Poison Fog she had conjured from her Hiroigui Techniques. A trait of the reptile. Filled with paralytic agents, the fog would intercept the swarm of buzzing drones, knocking many to the earth as their wings and bodies became lethargic. Lips curled back, protruding into that of a crocodile, the mist bellowed out from Shima's position into a large arc in front of her. Soon after, Shima curled her tail around her body, coiling the energy with the aid of her kinetic torque. Slender and lithe, the tail quickly made a swath through the air, detaching the many scales that adorned it's length. A volley of razor sharp, plated projectiles. With enough force behind them, the scales soared through the fog at high velocity, impacting those caught by it's sharp edge, with the force of a sonic boom. Shima let her lips curled into a wicked grin, crocodilian glee, she knew the sharp scales, combined with her fog would be enough to thin the dampen the swarm down to a lower number. Shima had to be sure of her past moves, and she watched for any signs of the swarms, or the zombies to come through. Her vision crisp and clear, body ready for the next sign of an enemy that exited her fog. Turning her attention onto Akemi's yell as she dragged into the earth Koyone allows the Gila-girl handle the front line initially. Concentrating on the faint chakra signature beneath the soil she wonders what could possibly be done against creatures with such simple nervous systems. Even if she could cause them to hallucinate, they weren't going to be warded off by fear or pain. Glancing over at Shima's toxic assault an potential idea sparks in her mind. "I suppose it's better than nothing," she thinks to herself, ready to attempt her counterattack. Directing an illusory assault spatially at the foreign chakra that was in the closest proximity of Akemi's legs, compensating for the possibility of multiple culprits, Koyone seeks to inhibit any nervous system connected to targeted chakra, albeit temporarily. Hoping that this strike would cause the grip on Akemi to be loosened, the illusionist reaches out towards the Hyūga, giving her a means to pull herself out. "If that technique worked, I may have figured out a way to handle these wasps as well," Koyone thinks to herself as her attention is redirected to all of the minute chakra signatures in the surrounding. The countless insects circling around, the corpses bounding steadily towards the squad, and even the chakra of whatever had grasped Akemi were being carefully monitored. The situation was becoming stranger by the moment, and it was becoming abundantly clear that this was different from what she had suspected. Akemi forces herself to suppress an agonizing cry by gritting her teeth as thick, muscular hands attempt to grind the bones of her ankles into dust. Before she can even react she's buried up to her waist in the ground. Cursing the fact that her Byakugan can't make out any details beyond the meaty arms consigning her to death by swarm, she struggles futilely for a few moments before realizing her strength just won't cut it. Its only when she realizes the extent of this trap does realization dawn on her. Through clenched teeth, Akemi yells to her teammates, "There's another one! The one directing the swarm!" Making a split-second decision she decides that its better if her team can concentrate on the threat that can take out all of them as opposed to the bastard below her. With a quick snap of her wrist she launches a kunai at the nin hiding in the tree's, a faint sizzling sound accompanying the weapon as it flies true, no doubt an exploding tag attached at its end. "Get him before he hides again-" Her eyes widen as she feels her bones crunch from the crushing grip. Desperation settles into her mind upon realizing the sheer danger and horror that will befall her should she fail to escape within the next few seconds. Gathering as much chakra as necessary for her gambit, Akemi channels the mixture of spiritual and physical energies down her legs and with a defiant shout releases the pent up energies through her tenketsu. The attack is similar in practice to the Gentle Fist, though instead of shoving chakra into an opponents limb the energy is released in the air detonating like a shockwave. With direct contact, the attack is even more potent. Using the explosion of chakra to help loosen the earth surrounding her, Akemi fire's two thick chakra strands from her arms attaching them to nearby tree's before yanking them down hard to help propel her upward and away from her adversary. As Akemi is launched into the air in a swift burst of chakra, she is given a bird's-eye view of the battle so far. Her explosive tag has ruptured one of the many hollow tree trunks, revealing an unsavory character hidden within the smoking crater. His hunched form is grotesquely warped. His hands and feet are of exaggerated size, his face is malformed so that one side is larger than the other. And his back... upon his back is a large hump, comprising fully one-half of the rest of his body. Its filled with hundreds of holes half the size of a fist. From within his back, young wasps can be seen vacating the combs with an inexhaustible appetite. With a rasping, high pitched voice, he commands his swarm, "Consume them, my children. Consume the traitors! Don't leave a scrap of them behind!" The hideous man draws a repeating crossbow of some kind, and begins firing projectiles rapidly into the area around Team Konoha. His shots seem harmless at first glance... but Shima's advanced sense of smell picks up the scent of pheromones. The swarm that was circling around Team Konoha was threatening before; they've become positively livid and enraged. Their mandibles extend hungrily, and their stingers rapidly extend and retract in excitement as they bear down upon their prey, intent to kill. In an instant, the area is overcome by the biting and stinging vermin. Simultaneously, the charging larva-zombies reach Team Konoha's position, and start haphazardly assaulting Koyone and Shima. Their attacks are wide and imprecise, but with each swing, they scatter the flesh-boring young of the wasps at the bodies of the leaf ninja. The few that were hit by Shima's spikes suffered little in the way of damage; while they were penetrated, some through the chest and head, they do not have vital organs, and such, cannot die from blood loss or critical injury. Meanwhile, a stone pillar shatters out of the ground beneath Akemi's position, and a powerfully-built man with a feral gaze erupts off of the top of it. He snarls an insult, "Where do you think you're going, leaf-bitch?" Even a single one of his hands is large enough to entirely wrap around one of Team Konohas' necks. His chest and limbs are filled with wrippling muscles, covered in scars. His rock-hard body ferociously flies up to meet Akemi. His left arm rears back, as it winds up for a powerful punch. To the members of Team Konoha, he is unmistakable as the giant who participated in the written exams- the Otogakure ninja, Koji Ishirou. His powerful swing sends Akemi flying through the air. "At least they've begun to reveal themselves" Koyone thinks to herself as she forced on the defensive by the wild attacks of the animated corpses, "Though we're definitely at a disadvantage in a war of attrition." Tactically backpedaling away from the zombies, all the while cautiously avoiding the larva being thrown about, the white-haired Kunoichi is startled by the sounding of Koji bursting out of the ground behind her. "That's number two I suppose. Seems like he's an earth user too, damn," she whispers to herself, focusing on the new arrival's chakra signature while keeping her eyes on the incoming wasps and encroaching corpses. Twirling around Koyone draws a kunai attached with an explosive tag and launches it at giant Otogakure shinobi, hoping his position in midair would ensure her projectile connected. Unable to afford to give Akemi any more aid she turns back towards the lumbering zombies as she concentrates chakra into her muscles, vitalizing her body temporarily. Rushing past several of these corpses as nothing but a blur the young kunoichi swiftly assaults the enemies with a blade in hand. Intent on disabling the movement of the host body Koyone took several swipes at the tendons of three of the zombies, hoping that her opponent's corpse puppetry relied on the host body's machinery being intact. Ending her charge near Shima the aggressive illusionist claps her hands together in a seal of concentration, while simultaneously closing her eyes. After a moment of focusing she zones in on the chakra signatures of the closest twenty or so wasps emits a powerful wave of chakra towards them. While it would be impossible to ensnare such creatures with a proper illusion, a less than than elegant application of genjutsu may still be effective. In fact, the surge of chakra Koyone projected toward the buzzing insects was designed to simply falsely signal all of her target's nerves simultaneously. If effective the maneuver would intensely, and artificially, trigger every sensory and motor function of the wasps at once, hopefully neutralizing their ability to continue threatening her team. Revealing her eyes once again, Koyone shifts back to a defensive stance to prepare for the next wave of attacks and monitor the effect or her attacks. Surprise etched on her, Akemi scrambles to put forth some modicum of defense against the giant man's attack. Crossing her arms protectively over her chest, she channels as much chakra into her limbs as possible. A moment later, a fist the size of her head smashes against her meager defenses, all but bulldozing past them as if they were nothing. Feeling the air rushing out her lungs and the burning pain of several ribs cracking under the pressure, Akemi feels a brief sense of vertigo before crashing through one tree, and painfully colliding against another, crashing into its hollow interior. With a gasping breath she shudders while struggling to free herself. "Dammit!" She wheezes with a grimace. "Bastard nearly broke all of my ribs." Even more damning was the brief plummeting of his chakra reserves as he left the earth. The only reason her organs weren't paste was because his attack was weaker than what it would have been had he been on the ground. Quickly checking over her injuries she notes that her ankles were a mess; there was swelling and several bones were cracked. She could walk on them but anything more intense would aggravate the injury. She needed time to heal but Kouji was closing in. Dragging herself out of the tree she takes one more look at the battlefield. Traps, mines and pitfalls scattered around them like a prison of death. This ambush was not going well for them; the swarm itself was its own problem, but being directed by the wasp nin and coupled with Kouji, this was just a death trap. Five genin teams had tried and failed, they needed to regroup! Cursing the fact that this battle had gone downhill, she screams to her teammates. "Fallback! Get out of the kill-zone! Take to the Canopy, you'll avoid most of their mines and pitfalls. Get going now!" Releasing several more chakra threads from her shoulders and back she fires them high up into the canopy, and pulls herself higher up, in a vain attempt to retreat from the battle, the swarm and Kouji's wrath. Shima looked over to Koyone as she joined in the fray. Her blood surged with fire, wrathful strikes from her claws and tails dashed across any insects that came her way, tearing into them with speed and fervor. The onslaught was glorious, and there was no where she would rather be. Her tunnel vision had kicked in, and all she wanted was blood. Roaring with glee, she watched on as two zombies moved in on her, filled with the maggots that gave them life. Looking on as they closed in, Shima surged chakra through her finger tips, reaching into her nails. Elongating her innate weapons, she felt chakra encase her claws. A chakra flow enhancement that gave her claws a sharper edge, and longer reach. Fueling her body with primal energy, the Gila-girl swiped her claws, spinning in a horizontal-reversal. Swift enough to become a blur, strong enough to slice clean through rock, she knew that the zombies would fall into a rack of meat, met at the torso with her right strike, and at the hip from her left strike. The extended range of her claws would provide her the distance to escape any flying corpse bits or crawlies. Without faltering, Shima kept up her kinetic motion, boosting her next jump with the built up momentum, bounding across the field and directly to Koyone once more. Back to back, she looked on as their foes closed in. Her eyes gauging the thermal signatures as they came to her foresight. A foe in the trees, one following Akemi, and plenty of bugs. "Hey, smartass... hold on to this." slipping an object into her allies hand. Her crocodile smile flashed again, her teeth shaping a wicked emotion. Joy. It would of course, be the Princess-bitch that ruined her fun. Her call for retreat, was likely due to the near death experience she faced. The 'precious flower' never could handle a real fight. And with every fiber of her being, Shima Date desired to fight more, even against these immensely lop-sided odds. She felt secure in herself, all she required was to get close to her pray damn it! Why couldn't these girls just toughen the fuck up? And to her discretion, Shima howled in anger as her ally retreated without so much as to aid either she or Koyone. Not that they needed it. Their replacement was doing rather well - and her company was considerably more valued then that Aburame. God, she hated bugs... "Let's get out of here..." Shima smiled, "... we'll have time for payback..." The lizard girl hoped for nothing less. Scales shifting with chakra and refracting light, her body becoming one with the environment, indistinct from the coloration and patterns of nature itself. Fitting in perfectly, invisible. Shima offered Koyone reassurance to her location, patting her on the shoulder before using the muscles from her own body shoot into the canopy above, rustling the leaves and branches slightly. All the enemy would see, was a foe disappearing from sight, and a small ring of dust rippling from her location. The swarm of wasps overtakes Shima's and Koyone's positions. With frightful speed, they descend on both Kunoichi with a ravenous aggression. The group that were closing in on Koyone suddenly fall onto the ground, being overtaken by convulsions born of her sense-overriding genjutsu. The ones attacking Shima, however, pass through her gases and alight on her body. One by one, they start jamming their inch-long poison tipped barbs into her body. Her plated armor absorbs most of these attacks, but a few stings find their way between her scales as they incessantly probe her for weaknesses. The venom feels like a stinging hot fire seeping into Shima's flesh. Spinning furiously, Shima bifurcates two of the zombies on their approach, all as she throws the stinging insects off of her body with the momentum. In an attempt to hide from the swarm and zombies, her outline fades as her camouflage takes effect... but even as she leaps away, the swarm pursues her... although, more sluggishly than before. Her gas seemed to have some effect on the swarm.. perhaps a more persistent exposure would have entirely disabled them. Akemi attempts to ascend into the trees with her chakra threads, but a barrage of gigantic boulders hurled at her by Koji interrupt her escape. Seemingly the boulders miss her, leaving her free and unharmed; but his real target reveals itself as the chakra threads attached to her hands slacken and she begins to fall. The branches that were supporting her threads have been pulverized by the massive projectiles in an explosion of splinters. As for Koyone, her attacks on the corpses are largely ineffective. The limbs of these animated bodies are being manipulated by a contraction and wriggling of the larva within them, rather than any musculature. Her precision-based attacks to the tendons do little to slow their assault. Moreover, by running forward into the attacking zombies, she's also exposed herself to one of Koji's traps. A pit trap reveals itself as the ground beneath her feet gives way, and she plummets towards the bottom. The interior of the trap is lined with loose soil, making a handhold all but impossible... and at the bottom, a layer of the flesh-consuming larva rear up for their feast. The deafening sound of wood detonating from the extreme force of massive boulders crashing into them thunders in Akemi's ears before she plummets to the ground. Her body slams into a tree branch as she falls, crashing through it with a resounding crack, further aggravating her injuries. "This bastard really is trying to kill me!" Grimacing in pain, she can't help but feel the shadow of terror creep up her spine as the reality of this battle sets in. Akemi had always prided herself on her self-control, but more than that on her own power and ability but this was testing the limits of her own confidence. She berated herself for the useless bickering that had blinded them to the real danger. Of all the times to be attacked it had to be at the lowest point of unit cohesion! In the end it doesn't matter, all that matters now is ensuring she and her team lived, so they could finish this damn exam. Focusing her mind through the pain, she took stock of the situation. What caught her attention was the pitfall that had swallowed Koyone, and to her horror she could see more larva waiting to consume her. "Damn, I don't have much time!" Flicking out her arm she sent a stream of chakra tendrils to latch onto Koyone, while firing another set to another nearby tree. With a mental tug and a surge of chakra she pulls upward as hard as she could hurling Koyone out of the danger and into the air above it. "Grab onto a branch and start climbing up!" She yells. "We need to get to the canopy! But first, distract that overgrown meat-head! We won't make it far if he plays target practice with us!" She finished jerking her head towards Kouji. Twisting mid air she fires several more to latch onto more tree's to break her fall, swinging in an arc and using her downward momentum to swing upward again. At the moment, she was next to useless with her injuries, but she could at least heal them enough to not be crippling in the battle. Concentrating on the five conceptual organs, she released a steady stream of chakra into her injuries, accelerating her bodies natural flow and healing process. The chakra reinforced the surrounding musculature, acting as a makeshift brace for her damaged ribs. Following this same line her sprained ankles received similar treatment, though her ability to run was still compromised, further activity wouldn't cripple her in the long term. With her immediate injuries taken care of she peered around for Shima. Spotting the lizard in human guise she shouts, "Shima! Blow up that damn Wasp-Nin and his little swarm too! We need to start a fire. I'll start marking the mines they've got placed, then you and Koyone blow em all up when I'm finished. Well smoke these bastards out!" It wasn't the best plan, but anything else at the moment would just be a delaying tactic. A forest fire could burn through the swarm faster than any of their attacks could, and it would prevent Kouji from making use of the earth. Still, it also meant that they'd be in danger too, but given the present situation, she'd rather die then be fodder for these twisted bastards. "This is..." Koyone whispers to herself, securing the item given to her by Shima in her pouch before watching the Gila-girl make her escape. Though, just as the aggressive illusionist is about to bound into the trees as well, she caught unaware as the ground beneath her collapses. Before she can realize what's happening Koyone plummets into the chasm, her back landing on surprisingly soft bedding. For a moment she's content that hadn't fallen in a pit of spikes, until she felt the ground beneath her writhing. It is at this point she feels the pain of stinging bites on her exposed arms and legs. Nearly instantly though, she heaved back into the light by Akemi's chakra threads. Pulling herself up upon a branch Koyone furiously pulls the larva that had attached to her from her flesh, leaving a handful of shallow wounds on her exposed skin. While Koyone so desired a moment to compose herself after falling into a veritable pit of death, she realizes that this situation at hand wasn't going to permit that. "I definitely owe this team a lot," she thinks to herself, channeling her fear and anxiety of these opponents into anger. Targeting the brute of a shinobi that was after Akemi the illusionist leaps through the canopy of the forest closing the gap between herself and the enemy. Drawing a explosive tag between her fingers she echoes the means of her assault into the surrounding area, "KATON: SHIEN NO JUTSU!" Without delay a barrage of fireballs erupt from the tag in her hand, cutting off Kōji from his prey. Continuing the assault, Koyone shapes the flames that fell before her target into a massive wall of fire that encircles the Oto-nin. Concluding the fiery attack, the genjutsushi collapses flames upon Kōji as she throws the explosive tag towards his location, the intense illusory burning sensation paired with a true explosive end. "That should help for the time being," Koyone thinks to herself, pulling further away from the wasp-nin as his swarm. She'd have to wait for Akemi to mark the mines before they could mount their counter maneuver. In the mean time she'd focus on keeping an her attention on all of the opponents, including the wasp. They couldn't afford to get cornered again. Shima rose through the canopy of the trees, using her chakra flow to catch onto the branches with tail and legs, holding on for support. Her camouflage made her indistinct from the world around her; but it was going to be impossible to outrace the swarm that was in hot pursuit behind her. Leaping from the branches, and high into the air, Shima acted. The giant bugs buzzed through the air, trailing behind her with armed stingers, flowing in a frenzied horde against her. Taking note from before, she knew their barbs were poisoned, relayed to her through the toxins she felt when they had managed to pry into her scales. Though her regenerative properties accelerated her own healing, she knew that too many blows would dramatically fatigue her, and likely end her over the course of the fray. Grasping onto several of her own kunai, pulling them from her pouches, Shima made quick work in her next attack. "Time for these fucking bugs to die..." sending two kunai from each hand, lined with incendiary tags. The explosive tag-kunai were sent towards the incoming path of the hornets, spread out over a wide area to ensure maximum damage to any that funneled through the canopy. Instincts kicked in, and her speed accelerated, her lithe tail picked another kunai from the inside of her boot, a special tag used for smoking out enemies. Within this tag, was the accelerant properties of a gaseous and liquid nature. Sending it with additional force, her tail sent the last tag with astounding speed, reaching the canopy in concert with her previous assault. The combined explosions lit the roof of the forest into a horrendous blaze, and any bugs that dare enter the primed gas covered canopy would find themselves joining the hellish state. And as she felt her own descent, Shima felt her scales shifting into Bony-Chutes, ready for any attack that would come her way, and to prepare herself for the heat of the canopy she would undoubtedly fall back through. Shima's prediction on the flight path of the approaching swarms pays off. In moments, most of the stinging, biting pests are reduced to pulpy ash in the magnitude of the fire she hurls at them. Those that remain of her pursuers are quickly dispatched by her explosive tag. As Shima breaks through the smoky inferno, the clearing below reveals the writhing zombie horde. Their broken hands reach out for Shima, and they charge in to meet her as she lands amid a downpour of burning branches and wasp corpses. Many fall to her storm of Bony Chutes like leaves in the wind- scattered like so much detritus in the fury of her motion. The barbed larva that attack her, many as there are, prove useless against her hardened body. Scattered among the remains are the five scrolls... it becomes acutely obvious to Shima, that unless she recovers them from their spots on the ground, they'll be destroyed by the consuming flames. Meanwhile, Koyone's barrage strikes Koji unerringly. Or perhaps, it would be better to say, Koji simply neglects to bother dodging. Perhaps he thought his toughened body would be entirely immune to the damage such puny flames could impose. His mistake. As the illusory flames cover his body, he begins reacting in a more predictable fashion; he begins to scream in pain. Clawing at his skin in futility, he tries to peel the phantom images off himself by force, leaving angry gashes in his skin. Losing all sense of composure, he flees by flowing into the ground beneath him. In retaliation for the pain inflicted upon him, the earth beneath Koyone's position churns angrily, and a dozen clumps of earth half the size of a person barrel towards her direction. Some come close, but none seem to get near enough to touch her. The mines within these clumps, however, detonate as soon as they strike the surrounding branches. It turns out, they hit their true target after all. As the branches collapse in a cascade of detonations, Koyone and Akemi are sent into freefall towards the forest floor below. The churning ground has turned into a maelstrom of gnashing boulders and sharp rocks, a earth-based blender that would surely pulverize and rupture anything unfortunate enough to fall in. As Akemi and Koyone plummet towards this gruesome demise, another person leaps out of the shadows beyond the treetrunks, catching Koyone and saving her mid-leap. Landing on a treetrunk opposite the clearing, Koyone can see her "hero". The wasp-ninja. He's even more hideous up close, than he appeared from a distance. Innumerable pustules leak an inky-black substance on him. The right side of his face is malformed and slack, and his eyes are misaligned by the irregular bulge of his features. His elongated hands and feet are tipped in jagged yellow nails, some broken and bleeding. His teeth are a mottled yellow and green, and his one good eye stares into Koyone's own with a disconcerting hunger. "I s-s-s-saved you. That makes you m-m-mine. You-you-you belong to me, now." The left side of his mouth twists upward into a twisted rendition of a smile, and his long, slimy tongue slips free of his mouth and smears her cheek. As he speaks, dozens more of the hell-wasps pour out of the openings on his humped back, their bodies slick from incubation, and hungry for their first taste of flesh. Shima felt her breath push from her body landed on the base of the forest, her chakra shielding her body from the pressure on her body, further reduced by her own muscular and bone structure; any strain from the fall was nonexistent. Husks of wasps and smoking-impaled corpses lay all around her. Shima's reptilian eyes adjusted to the smoke, fluctuating due to the heat she was seeing all around her. Getting any signals would be next to impossible... applying fine chakra control to her eyes, she shut down her amplified thermo-imaging, and turned her attention the scrolls before her. Eyes now a pale brown, empty and devoid of life. Arching her tail around her body, Shima quickly snagged all of the scrolls before her, hands quickly taking them into custody, slipping them into every free pouch she had left on her body, thankfully, of which, she now had due to the recent explosive tags that are now missing. That was easy enough... now she had the two princesses to rescue. But first... Watching as her allies commenced upon Koji, Shima could only grin as her foe relished in the false flames he was bathing in. "Hey, where do you think you're going?!" Shima took little time in getting to his location, performing a Body Flicker, she soon appeared above his previous location, taking note of where he had sank in. Her body became a virtual blur, vanishing and reappearing in a swift-silent transmission across the terrain. Her chakra at the cost of magnified agility. Applying her Reptile Technique: Snaptrap, she brought her fists down to the earth. Her strength amplified via her Yang chakra, Shima felt her strength sky rocket for this technique, shoving her hands into the ground, plowing through the earth as if it were water before her, Shima's brute force sent debris flying everywhere, digging into the earth to grab hold of Koji. Her bloodlust had not been sated, and she was going to kill those that dare try to stop her team, quite happily. With her speed and zeal, Shima Date had no doubt that she would be able to do such. "Come on out, fucker!" --- Snatched in midair from her descent by the wasp-nin Koyone surprise is replaced with dread as he offers his explanation of her situation. This was far too close for comfort, and the illusionist knew that mishandling this scenario could have especially dangerous repercussions. "Got to play this cool," Koyone thinks to herself, without neglecting that her current position had certain benefits as well. Pushing off his chest, as she scrambles from the wasp-nin's arms, Koyone retreats a meter or so away from her opponent before addressing him. "Uh...thanks for that, you really saved the day," Koyone quietly speaks to her "savior," hoping to take control of the situation. As she innocently kicks her foot across the branch Koyone casually looks up to the wasp-nin. "I've never been someone's prize before, but are you strong enough to keep me?" she continues with a sad smile, holding back the expression of absolute disgust at her own words. Turning away from the wasp-nin the illusion kneels down before asking him yet another question. "Couldn't that earth shinobi simply steal me away?" she inquires solemnly, placing her hand on the ground before standing back up. "Time for the icing on the cake," she thinks to herself. "Watch out!" Koyone yells, spinning around with look of fear on her face as she throws two shuriken in the direction of the wasp-nin. While the projectiles first appear as if they're directed at the shinobi himself, it soon becomes clear that their target was none other than illusory stone shards that were flung from the earth-nin's direction. Deflecting the false strike just before they would have bore their way into the wasp-nin's face, Koyone displays a sigh of relief. "Are you okay?" she asked in a concerned tone before glaring down in Kōji's general direction. --- Akemi grimaced as the cascade of explosions detonates around her, the shockwaves buffeting her into nearby debri eliciting cry's of pain as the scorched remains of the canopy burn exposed skin. Ears ringing, head swimming from repeated exposure to concussive waves, and lungs filling with smoke and ash, Akemi could barely form any coherent thought, let alone a battle plan to survive the ensuing onslaught. Mustering what little strength she had left, she adjusts her body into a more aerodynamic form, swerving and evading the onrushing debri. Retreat was no longer possible. The forest was in flames, her teammates were struggling to beat the odds, and she was getting more injured by the second. Out of all the choices, accounting for all the variables, she had only one real option left. Grinding her teeth so hard even Shima could hear her, she rapidly fell adjusting her flight path directly towards Kouji, eyes ablaze with righteous fury and determination. Out of the corner of her eye she felt a burst of chakra, seeing the lithe form of Shima dart in and literally dig and drag the offending bastard out of his hidey hole. Now that she got a good look she saw quite literally her golden opportunity. With her Byakugan she could easily discern the gnashes covering his arms from his desperate attempt to remove the phantom flames from Koyone's illusion. Grinning like a cheshire cat, she pulls out several senbon throwing them with unerring accuracy at his exposed injuries. He probably wouldn't even feel her attack, but physical damage wasn't her objective. Senbon were exceedingly efficient at dealing precision damage on targets, more so if one had intimate knowledge of anatomy. But with her vision and knowledge targeting his tenketsu and closing the channels along his chakra system would weaken his physical attacks considerably by limiting the chakra output through his chakra coils. She had little time to determine whether her attack struck true or not as she slammed into Kouji bouncing off of his hardened skin like it was a steel wall. She felt her shoulder nearly snap from the impact as she rebounded off of him like a rag doll, landing harshly on the ground. After a few shuddering breaths Akemi scrambles to her feet launching herself forward, wincing as a thousand needles of pain raced up her legs from the strain. Withdrawing a stolen smoke bomb, she hurls it and detonates it right next to Kouji, causing the area to erupt in a plume of smoke. Using this as a diversion, Akemi rushes forward hoping to slip beneath his guard. With as much force as she could gather Akemi channels the necessary energies into her palm, focusing her will into the mental image of the imaginary body technique. With a final shout she slams her attack, aiming directly where his spleen would be. The seal if applied would be able to redirect even close off the energies associated with the Spleen the organ that oversee's the transformation of energy and its distribution throughout the body. As an earth aligned entity, destabilizing it would cripple his ability to absorb energy from the earth. More than that, its governance over the muscles and limbs may very well affect him more strongly than normal given his reliance on his own brute strength. At this point it was her only hope as she staggers back, slumping to the ground in exhaustion, her legs unable to support her own weight. Shima's reptile-enhanced strength strains as she grabs hold of Koji's arms and pulls. Her feet sink at least two feet into the loose, flowing soil, but eventually his head breaches the surface. "Da-Damn you!" In moments, fully half of his muscle-packed body is exposed. In retaliation, he wrenches a hand free and slams Shima's stomach with his boulder-like fist, sending her flying. Akemi's smoke flows into the area, obscuring his vision, and she charges forward. Under ordinary circumstances, a foe would be blinded... but Koji senses each and every one of Akemi's footfalls on her approach. Rather than attempting to dodge the incoming charge, he steps into an open stance, ready to envelope his opponent as she enters his rock-crushing embrace. Akemi strikes, and her chakra flows into Koji's spleen. As she expected, the effect is powerful. In an instant, his chakra enhanced skin softens, and the earthen blender ceases its revolutions. "What?! That's impossible!" An expression of shock and rage overcomes his cool exterior. Koji grabs Akemi's wrists, his superior strength overpowering her small body, and he viciously headbutts her, before placing her in a deadly headlock. "You bitch! How dare you! I'll make you suffer for this!", he snarls. His muscles begin to constrict around her neck to snap it. Akemi, stunned and unresponsive, is powerless to resist as she feels the blood flow to her brain cease. Suddenly, a swarm of wasps descend on Koji's body. They furiously tear into his exposed skin, stinging and gnawing on him relentlessly. "Wha? Ah! Aaaggh!!" Koji releases Akemi from his hold as he tries to beat away his attackers, stumbling onto his back in the dirt. Koji screams in pain and desperation as the swarm covers him. A similar number begin assaulting Akemi and Shima as well... It's at this inopportune time, that Shima's transformation begins to wear off. She begins to feel her body turning back... in moments, she'll be an ordinary human again. The hideous wasp ninja laughs mockingly. "Die, traitor! Kill all the traitors, my children!" The malformed shinobi turns his gaze back to Koyone, his off-center face smiling gleefully. "Mine, mine! You will be my wife." Bound forward, he grabs hold of Koyone's wrists. "You'll be my wife. Yes! My wife." To Koyone's horror, a bulge appears in his throat, and begins to quiver and wriggle. A massive wasp, bigger than any so far, emerges from his open maw. Undoubtedly, this monstrosity of an insect could only be a queen of the brood. It crawls down the length of his arm and onto Koyone's at an alarming speed, and speedily flutters towards her mouth.